I met the RAIN DIARY after the VLAD IN TEARS show in April. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the time to do an intensive interview. We only had time for a short hello and a quick band photo with my mascot Elvis, the little vampire, because it was the band’s tour-start with VLAD IN TEARS and everything was a little bit busy.

We’ve known each other for many years after we found each other on Twitter. I loved their music and so we stayed in contact. Luckily, I was able to see them live in Cologne in 2014 and had the chance to talk to the band in person. Now, having no time after a show is no good reason for not doing an interview, since the internet gives us so many possibilities. It took some time to schedule it, but we finally had time to chat! I love this band and their music but it’s still an insider tip – so, get to know RAIN DIARY from Finland!

Metal & High Heels interview with Finnish Winterwave band RAIN DIARY:

Yvonne: Hi Tytti, hi Joni! Thank you for taking the time for this interview. I think I’ve known your band since 2013, but RAIN DIARY already celebrated its 10-year-anniversary last year. How would you describe your first 10 years?Joni: The last ten years have sculpted RAIN DIARY to what we are now. Every person in the band has grown age-wise and mentally, and walking on their own paths has created the map called RAIN DIARY.

Yvonne: You describe your music as “Winter Wave” – could you please expand on that genre?Tytti: For me, it’s listening to RAMMSTEIN while wearing a flower dress. “Winter Wave” is beautiful gothic melancholy driven through the cold machinery. It’s the winter forest at the solstice.

Yvonne: How does the Nordic dimension translate into your music?Joni: I truly think that our gloomy autumn and cold winter “violates” one’s soul: if you wander half a year with severely less light than darkness it has to affect the way you are and how you think. Also, when this short heat wave called summer comes, it drives people nuts. We don’t need higher math to understand why there are so many people celebrating their birthday on February and March.

Yvonne: Tytti, do you find it hard to be the only girl in the band or are you just one of the boys?Tytti: Heh, quite the opposite – I think our boys are like “one of the girls”! Frankly, there’s really no difference, as we are a family. Brothers and sisters don’t really have any different ways of being treated within the family. Or at least they shouldn’t.

Yvonne: Tytti, do you have any opinions on how women are situated in the rock/metal scene?Tytti: It would be nice to see more ladies behind the drums or hammering the bass. I think that some great exceptions verify the rule that women tend to either play keyboards or violin, these “ladylike”, delicate instruments. There’s still a strong stereotype of how women should behave or look, even in the rock scene. I like to play around a bit with that stereotype – take influence from pop culture, smash it into pieces and paint it black. People often tell me that I look like a scary siren on stage, and I take that as a twisted compliment – sirens are beautiful sea nymphs who lure seamen to destruction with their seductive singing and playing, and that’s exactly what I do!

Yvonne: Can you tell me more about the idea behind your new video ‘Kill The Disco’ and where it was shot?Joni: The song itself was inspired by my old friend who took the parties “a little too far” and pretty much managed to hurt everyone around him. The word “disco” itself reflects the endless need to run, the fear of being stopped to face the inner demons. The video was shot at the Helsinki coastline, on an island called Vallisaari, an old fort that was left for years in isolation to grow wild nature around the stonewalls, ramparts, and tunnels. This video will actually get “a sequel” that continues this loose storyline in our next music video.

Yvonne: … And what might that be?Tytti: ‘We Are Here, We Are Now’. The following video will be the polar side to ‘Kill The Disco’. The key idea in ‘Kill The Disco’ video is how the twilight of the dark clubs and the daylight of nature are fighting each other. ‘We Are Here, We Are Now’ will reach to Zen, finding inner peace.

RAIN DIARY tackle the subject of Mental Health:

Yvonne:Joni, you said that ‘Kill The Disco’ was inspired by an old friend. The lyrics, musical texture and the video are quite edgy and hard so how is your friend doing now.Joni: Well, he truly took his parties to the far extreme and managed to create such boiling drug debts that my friend eventually had to move to another country to save his ass from the debt collectors… From what I’ve heard, he’s still alive. Luckily.

Yvonne: Everybody talks about depression and mental health to stop the stigma and to make a statement that mental health is as important as physical health. Many musicians have died by suicide lately. When you speak about the “inner demons” of your friend for me it sounds like addiction and maybe private problems that can cause something like that. What is your opinion about addiction and especially the recognition in the world of mental health problems as a full illness and not just something that is in your head?

Joni: You framed the problem perfectly by calling it stigma. For some people, it’s still extremely hard to accept that mental health issues are a real illness as any other physical illness and cannot be treated by self-help brochures or kitchen psychology. To raise knowledge and by talking about the issue we can hopefully prevent some extremely sad ends.

Yvonne: What are your future plans? Do you have any idea when you’ll be back in Germany?Tytti: We’re going to have a short break from live shows after the summer to fully concentrate on the preproduction of our third album. Also, we are shooting and recording live material during this tour and hopefully we can release a live album and some good live videos in early 2019. Our fourth single ‘We Are Here, We Are Now’ will be released in November so our promoter is working hard to get us back to Germany by then. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!

Yvonne: Thank you for taking the time and hope to see you soon!Joni: You are welcome and we hope to come back soon!

Did you know RAIN DIARY before? Have you become a fan of the Finnish band now? Tell us your story in the comments and share this article!

Yvonne Otte is a concert photographer from Düsseldorf. She prefers Symphonic Metal, but listens to and photographs artists from many different genres. Known on social media by her handle “Photographyve”.